Consideration on Major Uncertainty Sources in Geotechnical Design

摘要

The authors have been proposing a reliability based design (RBD) scheme for practicing geotechnical engineersthat is termed GRASP (Geotechnical Reliability Analysis by a Simplified Procedure). The essence of GRASP is its simplified way to evaluate the effects of the soil spatial variability on structure performance, i.e. the local average (LA) of soil property for an appropriate volume is used to evaluate the effects. Furthermore, by focusing on the LA, it is possible to establish a clear-cut statistical estimation theory which gives the bases for the sampling strategies. In this paper, the outline of GRASP is summarized in the first half of this paper. The latter half of the paper is devoted to the consideration onthe major uncertainty sources in geotechnical design based on results of analyses by GRASP on various typical geotechnical structures, such as piles, shallow foundations and embankments on soft ground.